Railway crossing guard



March 8, c DAV|SON RAILWAY CROSSING GUARD Filed April 2 1929 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

22;; 3-; NW EE Q? m N an w E M V. =1. B N% QN #5) ATTORNEYS March 8,1932.

C- M. DAVISON RAILWAY CROSSING GUARD Filed April 2, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet2 INVENTOR.

64 'ATTORNEYJ Patented Mar. 8, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLARENCEM. DAVISON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MEN'I'S,TO RAILWAY-HIGHWAY DEVICES CORPORATION, OF CHESTER, PENNSYL- VANIA, ACORPORATION OF DELAWARE RAILWAY CROSSING GUARD Application filed April2, 1929. Serial No. 351,904.

' crossings.

The barrier is of the horizontally and vertically swinging type adaptedto be positioned across a roadway with means for yieldingly resistingthe horizontal movement, whereby, upon impact of a vehicle with thebarrier, the latter may swing to one side, but the resistance offeredsuch movement will bring the vehicle to a full stop within a distanceless than that between the original position of the barrier and therailroad tracks.

An object of the invention is to provide a barrier of this type whichwill withstand practically any stresses placed upon it, the memberagainst which the vehicle impacts being of a flexible nature andpreferably normally flexed, whereby tremendous strains are necessary torupture it, as distinguished from a taut or rigid barrier which would beeither ruptured or permanently distorted under similar strains.Preferably, this vehicle impacting .member or barrier proper is in theform of a cable which, in position across the roadway is normallydeflected in a horizontal plane in the direction of movement of vehiclesapproaching the crossing. By having the cable normally deflected, itsends may be fixedly secured to the member provided for supporting andraising it and the retardation of the vehicle is accomplished solely bysuitable snubbing mechanism to which the support is adapted to bedetachably connected.

A further object is to provide a barrier of this nature which may beproduced and installed at a comparatively low cost.

Preferably, the invention also seeks to provide means for preventingsagging of the cable to a point below the vertical center of any vehiclewheel, such means being capable of returning the cable to the properelevation across the roadway at all times.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certaindetails of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, allas will hereinafter be more fully described and the novel featuresthereof particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a barrier or guard embodying the presentimprovements, a vehicle impacting against the barrier and its actionthereon being indicated in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view;

Fig. 3 is a detail view showing one of the attaching members forsupporting the barrier from its supporting arm;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a snubbing de vice for the guard;

Fig. 5 is a transverse view of the snubber;

Fig. 6 is a detail view of the oil cylinder of the snubber.

I11 accordance with the present invention, the barrier proper or themember against which an approaching vehicle impacts, is composed of oneor more reaches of cable 10 fixedly attached at its ends to asubstantially rigid supporting member or arm 11. This is necessary inorder that said barrier may be raised and lowered from and to a positiontransversely of the roadway to be protected, the guard being loweredonly when a train is approaching the crossing, as is well known. Saidarm 11 is pivoted to swing in a vertical plane about a center 12 and ina horizontal plane about a center 13. Cable 10 may be attached to thepivoted end of arm 11 in any desired manner, but at the opposite end itis preferably passed around an annular member 14: adapted to engage post19 of a snubbing mechanism that may be of any desired construction. Inthe present instance, it consists of the post 19 movable along guides20, and attached to said snubbing post there is a cable 21 passingaround a sheave 22, the other end of said cable being attached to aportion of the base on which the entire snubbing mechanism is mounted.Sheave 22 is journaled on the rod or stem 23 of a piston or plunger 24:slidable in an oil cylinder 25 against the pressure of oil in saidcylinder, as well as the pressure of a coil spring 26 surrounding thecylinder between a collar 27 thereon and a collar 28 on rod 23. When thesnubbing post 19 is moved by a horizontal swinging movement of thebarrier, chain or cable 21 tends to move sheave 22 inwardly,

escapes to the opposite end, permitting a gradual movement of the sheave22, the snubhing. pestle and thebar'rier. After the mov:

ing force that hashee'n applied to the barrier is relieved, spring 26tends to force sheave 22 away from cylinder 25, and under theseconditions the oil that has passed head 24 returns rather freely throughacomparative- 1y large duct 29 in the head. This duct 29 is providedwith a flap valve 30 adapted to close the duct when sheave 22 movestoward the cylinder 25. v I

I Inaccordance with, the present invention, the ability at cable 10 tosustain comparatively heavy loads imposed upon it by vehicles impactingagainst it at higher speeds, is increased by having it normally flexed,as shown mien lines in Fig. 1. If said'cable were positioned at rightangles across the road-with both ends fixedly secured to unyieldingmembers it could withstand comparat ive-ly little strain; For instance,an 80,000 pound cable, under such conditions, could only carry a load ofless than 1,500

pounds, but by having it normally flexed, say

five feet, itcan carry approximatel 30,000 pounds For this reason, theintermediate portion oi arm '11 isefiset and the cables 10 normallyfl'eired as shown in Fig. 1.

It isgof course; necessary to prevent the cables 10 sagging to such anextent as to allow them to assume a position below the vertica'l center"of any vehicle wheels. Accordin iy, they are supported from theintermediate portion of arm 11 by'm'ovable members which will pennitthe-anguiarity ofthe flexed tabl ts cl'ia'rfge' when impacted against bya vehicle, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Preferably, the cablesare supported from said arm by short, lengths of cable 4'0 extendinginto cylinders 41 on the arm, the inner ends of cables do fbeingprovided with enlargem'ents 42 to prevent detachment from the cylinders.Tt is also preferred to intercompar'atively light sp'ringsdiy betweentheenlargements 42 and the ends of the cylinders, so that when thecables l'O are defie'cted, as indicated in Fig. 1, they will be"returned to their normal positions after the 'iz'ehicleis moved-away.It should be mentioned, in this connection, that the retarding'ahdcstopping of the vehicle is accomplished solely through the"snubbing mechanism, the

no eiiect on the retardation of the vehicle. In other words-,springs 4E3areonly strong enough to returnthe cablefsjtoftheirnormal flexed[position .and prevent; said cables; sag.-

..ging'. It will also be noted'thatthe horizonlightness of springs lbeing such as to have tal movement of cable 10 is not sufficient toallow the vehicle to impact against the arm 11 so that breakage ordistortion of the latter is impossible.

The only conditions under which a vehicle may engage arm-11 is when thevehicle has passed one gate and the gates, which are at opposite sidesof the crossing, are lowered before the vehicleciears the crossing..Under these conditions, the gate, then blocking the path of thevehicle, is free to swing horizontally'away from the crossing. This istaken care of by having snubbing post 19 formed at one side with a;vertically disposed web 31 whose upper surface is inclined to guide theannular member 14 upwardly'until it clears the pbst,as indicated indotted hires in Fig. l. After member it has cleared the post, thevehicle can pushthe guard aside and clear the crossing. Upon return ofthe guard, after the vehicle hasth'us passed through, member 14 engagesa web 32 adjacent post 19 and is elevated thereby so that said membercan pass over the post until the opening therein registers with thepost, whereupon it will drop into its normal position around said post.I 7

In the drawings, the guides 20 of the snubbing mechanism are shown asextending parallel. to the center line of the roadway. Under theseconditions, the support 11 must flex somewhat as it swings horizontally,but the extent of this flexing may be reduced by arranging guides 20 atan angle to the center line of the road. For'instance, the guide 20which is between post 19 and the pivotal center of support 11 isessentially a thrust memher in that it prevents movementof post 19laterally toward the road. Therefore, altering the position of theguides 20 so that they are inclined toward th'e road, flexing of the"support will naturally be reduced. Furthermore, the post 19 naturallyhas a tendency to bind on the guide 20 that resists the lateral movementreferred to, so that this binding actionmay, likewise, be reduced. byinclining the guides toward the roadway. What I'claim is: V V

1. In a railway crossing guard, an arm pivoted to swing vertically andhorizontally and adapted to be positioned across a roadway, means foryieldingly resisting horizontal movement of said arm, a cable fixedlyattached at its ends to said arm and adapted to be';engage'd by ,avehicle-approaching the crossing and preventing impact of said vehicleagainst the arm, and means for yieldingly supporting the intermediateportion of said cable in spaced relation to said support.

2. In a railway crossing'guard, an arm tivoted to swing" vertically andhorizontally and adapted to be positioned across a roadway, means foryieldingly resisting horizontal movement of said arm, a cable. fixedlyattached at itspends to said arm, and means for yieldingly supportingthe intermediate portion of said cable in spaced relation to said arm ata plurality of points intermediate the ends of the arm, the intermediateportion of said cable being adapted to be engaged by a vehicleapproaching the crossing to prevent impact of said vehicle against saidarm.

3. In a railway crossing guard, a horizontally swingable arm adapted tobe positioned

